Recent research from Bullying UK shows that 14% of young people have been harassed or bullied by mobile phone, and that 66% smartphone users are currently leaving themselves vulnerable to fraud, according to GetSafeOnline.
Addressing these dangers is Seenearly, a new Android application that tracks all the activity on your mobile phone and lets you monitor it online.
After a quick 200kb installation, Seenearly resides as a low level, anonymous background app on your handset. After registering, the website will automatically synch with the contents of your phone.
Seenearly then tracks all handset usage and sends the information back to a real time, online account that can be accessed 24/7. The accessible information includes calls, SMS and email content, browsing history, address book, applications that have been installed or deleted and the phone’s location.
All Seenearly information is encrypted held in the cloud. Acquad, the company behind Seenearly and founded by former Nokia, Swisscomm and Gemstar executives, works with a leading provider of cloud computing which ensures that all data is stored safely and securely.
Peter Karsten, CEO of Acquad, commented: “Seenearly is all about keeping you informed; we track all the activity on a handset and collect this information in one place. Having access to this information is enormously powerful. It can allow consumers to understand their mobile habits, protect against identity theft or cyberstalking and help keep an eye on loved ones. Interestingly, we don’t gather any more information than the typical Google app in the Android Market. The difference with Seenearly is that the end user can see what information has been collected.”
Seenearly can help its users in a number of ways: By understanding their phone habits, consumers can ensure that they are on the correct mobile tariff and save money; Employers can monitor the smartphones of their staff to understand what they are accessing using company property; Worried parents can monitor their child’s phone to check for signs of cyber-bullying and other problems; Romantic partners can mutually agree to monitor each other.
Seenearly costs $9.99 and is available now in the Android Market. There are also plans to launch the application on future phones including BlackBerry, Symbian3, MeeGo and iPhone at the end of 2010.